Paradigmatic shifts,indigenization, and the development of sociology in Canada

Three contextual models of disciplinary development (institutional, ideological congruence, and intradisciplinary) are employed to explain the history of sociology in Canada. A fourth dependency model is added to show how the national disciplinary community has been greatly influenced by paradigms and approaches to sociology emphasized in other countries. A fourfold periodization of the historical development of sociology in Canada is sketched which includes two cycles of paradigmatic emulation and reactionism which have in turn predisposed Canadian sociology to indigenizing efforts and macrosociological questions.     

Phenomenological Life-World Analysis and Ethnomethodology’s Program

This paper discusses ethnomethodology??s program in relation to the phenomenological life-world analysis of Alfred Schutz. A recent publication of Garfinkel??s early writings sheds new light on how he made use of phenomenological reflections in order to create a new sociological approach. Garfinkel used Schutz??s life-world analysis as a source of inspiration, called for ??misreading?? in the sense of an alternate reading and developed a new, empirical approach to the analysis of social order which he called ??ethnomethodology??. Ethnomethodologists usually acknowledge the historical importance of Schutz but emphasize that Garfinkel succeeded to overcome the limitations of phenomenological analyses and moved beyond. This view has spread above all in the Anglosaxon countries. In German sociology, Schutz??s life-world analysis still has a much stronger standing than ethnomethodology and is interpreted as a systematic whole. Following Luckmann, it is discussed as a protosociological foundation of the methodology of social sciences or, following Srubar, as a philosophical anthropology with two poles: a subjective and a social, pragmatic pole. Both versions claim to analyze the meaningful constitution of the social world, to serve as a foundation of sociological methodology and to provide guidelines for an ??adequate?? sociology. While Garfinkel used phenomenological concepts for sociological analysis, Luckmann clearly distinguishes the two: you either do phenomenology (protosociology) or you do sociology (a theoretically guided, empirical sociology of knowledge). This paper describes the present-day debate in German sociology and compares ethnomethodology??s program with these interpretations of Schutz??s life-world analysis.     

Current sociological research in Canada: Views of a journal editor

On the basis of submissions to the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology and the Annual Meetings of the Canadian Sociological and Anthropological Association, sociology in Canada may be described as social problem oriented, empirical, and atheoretical. There is a strong interest in research on ethnicity and on immigrant adjustment, reflecting a continuity with earlier periods of sociology in Canada, and on deviance and social control. Research on stratification, social mobility, and the family has been relatively neglected. As sociology in Canada shares the interests of “mainline” sociology, it has not escaped criticism or attempts to change its direction. A general model, identifying influences on the formulation of investigative issues in sociology, is used to interpret these criticisms and responses to them.     

What is Phenomenological Sociology Again?

In this paper, I seek to caution the increasing number of contemporary sociologists who are engaging with continental phenomenological sociology without looking at the Anglo-American tradition. I look at a particular debate that took place during the formative period in the Anglo-American tradition. My focus is on the way participants sought to negotiate the disciplinary division between philosophy and sociology. I outline various ways that these disciplinary exigencies, especially the institutional struggles with the sociological establishment, shaped how participants defined phenomenological sociology. I argue that despite the supposed theoretical, methodological, and substantial differences between these waves of phenomenological sociology, the contemporary wave could benefit from some of the lessons that were learned by their predecessors.     

But is it sociology of knowledge? Wilhelm Jerusalem’s “sociology of cognition” in context

This paper considers the charge that??contrary to the current widespread assumption accompanying the near-universal neglect of his work??Wilhelm Jerusalem (1854?C1923) cannot count as one of the founders of the sociology of (scientific) knowledge. In order to elucidate the matter, Jerusalem??s ??sociology of cognition?? is here reconstructed in the context of his own work in psychology and philosophy as well as in the context of the work of some predecessors and contemporaries. It is argued that while it shows clear discontinuities with the present-day understanding of the sociology of (scientific) knowledge, Jerusalem??s sociology of cognition was not only distinctive in its own day but also anticipated in nuce a much-discussed theme in current history of science.     

Human Rights and Religion: A Sociological Perspective

This essay aims to review mainstream literature and research perspectives on the sociology of human rights with the further focus on relationship between human rights and religion. We consider the challenges of late engagement of sociology with human rights and current narratives of the relationship of human rights and religion that encompass normativity as the central category of historically oriented sociology. We discuss the contribution of two empirical research mainstreams on human rights and religion and focus on a new field of study—sociology of religious freedom. A detailed new agenda for sociological research on human rights and religion is explored in the final part of our assessment.     

社会学和心理学的择偶理论的比较分析

配偶选择是人生最重要的选择之一,是社会学和心理学研究的重要课题。文章旨在介绍和分析社会学和心理学的配偶选择理论的异同,对理论解释进行反思：社会学和心理学对此的研究各有偏重,有着重要的现实意义。     

Paul Lazarsfeld and Polish sociology: A historical record of contact,perception, and impact

This paper records the Polish aspects of P. F. Lazarsfeld's sociointellectual biography and examines his impact on Polish sociology. The analysis is divided into three chronological parts. In the 1930s, Lazarsfeld's empirical work inspired Polish sociologists in their studies on unemployment. In the late 1950s and 1960s, his model of empirical social research shaped the style of sociological practice in Poland. In the 1990s, some of Lazarsfeld's substantive contributions, mainly in the area of election studies, were taken up in Polish sociology. Lazarsfeld's influence on Polish sociology was conditioned by changes in Polish society and sociology, which is emphasized in this analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The Ways of Humans: Modelling the Fundamentals of Psychology and Social Relations

The present paper comprises a set of theoretical suppositions concerning three major subjects: the fundamentals of psychology (psycho-logics), the fundamentals of sociology (socio-logics) and the relationship between psycho-logics and socio-logics. First, it is argued that intentionality is the founding unit of psychology. On the basis of this supposition, three phylogenetic steps: sense, mind, and consciousness are identified and modelled. Subsequently it is argued that sociology builds upon five and only five fundamental types of relations: competition, transference, coordination, dependence and control. It is stated that any sociological network is composed by sets of these relations. Finally it is argued that psychology and sociology form a complex micro macro system in which psychological processes give rise to sociological networks that in turn constrain psychological processes.     

On logic,methodology and practice of applied sociology

Applied sociology will be understood in the following discussion as a unique and original form of sociology; i.e., in its logic and practice distinguished from traditional sociology it is understood as an explanatory body of knowledge and an intellectual discourse about intentional/purposeful social action and behavior. The application of sociology proper to such substantive fields as family, art, law and sport, commonly called applied sociology, which reproduce the body of sociological knowledge just a second time, is not part of such understanding. Applied sociology in its original sense has its own logic in which purpose, implementation and the process of social-problem solution are crucial. It will in the end lead to an applied action or implementation theory. It is, to paraphrase Lazarsfeld, the methodology of “sociology in action” (1960).     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Social Construction of Reality</Emphasis>: Reflections on a Missed Opportunity

The paper recalls my response to Berger’s and Luckmann’s book on reading it shortly after its initial publication. It seeks to convey why it was that I failed to make use of the book at that time, even though I recognised it as an outstanding contribution to my intended field of research, and how later I came to see that this may have been a lost opportunity. The story touches upon diverse important issues including the relationship between epistemology and the sociology of knowledge; the epistemic authority of the natural sciences; the relevance of causal accounting as topic and resource in sociology; the importance of Durkheim in the sociology of knowledge; and the great value of Berger’s and Luckmann’s book as a corrective to the undue individualism that has long been a feature of the social sciences in the English-speaking world. Even so, the paper is more recollection than analysis, and unreliable recollection at that, after many decades in which there has been time to forget, or even to reconstruct, a very great deal.     

一支突起的异军——再议宗教社会学及其在中国的进展

本文从宗教的社会性及其特性来强调宗教社会学是一门独立的社会科学,并再次论述了这门学科的研究方法。宗教社会学近两年来在中国的发展,可谓"异军突起",本文从四个方面评述了这种"异",并提出随着学科的发展,学科界线的走向问题。     

Alvin W. Gouldner and industrial sociology at Columbia University

Alvin W. Gouldner (1920--1980) was a prolific sociologist of the post-World War II era who spent the early part of his career (the 1950s) in the field of industrial sociology. A case study of Gouldner's early life and career is useful insofar as it intertwines with the development of industrial sociology as a distinct subfield within sociology. Through this analysis we are also better able to understand how and in what ways a burgeoning organizational studies program developed at Columbia University during the 1940s. This analysis of the historical and cultural contexts within which Gouldner came to prominence as an industrial sociologist at Columbia, and the intellectual program that resulted, can also help shed light on more recent trends in organizational studies.     

Quantification and Chicago Social Science in the 1920s: A neglected tradition

This paper discusses the development of quantitative methods by social scientists at the University of Chicago in the 1920s. Chicago sociology, in particular, is frequently characterized by its emphasis upon using field research and personal documents to elicit the actor's definition of the situation. The important developments in quantitative methods in sociology, political science, and psychology at the time are discussed with reference to Ernest Burgess, William F. Ogburn, L. L. Thurstone, Samuel Stouffer, and others. In addition, the contribution made by the institutionalization of social research in the Local Community Research Committee is examined.     

Whose Lives? How History,Societies, and Institutions Define and Shape Life Courses

This article outlines how current sociology constructs life courses. First, a set of general heuristics is provided. Second, the development of life course sociology over the last 50 years is traced as an intellectual process whereby the life course has emerged as an analytical construct in addition to such concepts as human development, biography, and aging. A differential life course sociology has gradually developed in which contexts are specified according to time and place. Third, these differential constraints operating on life courses are illustrated from the perspective of 2 research areas. One perspective introduces historical periods as a sequence of regimes that regulate life courses. Another perspective looks at cross-national differences and especially focuses on institutions as the mechanisms by which life courses are shaped. The article concludes with reflections about the relation between the variable social contexts of life courses and human development.     

Definition and hypothesis in Plato's meno (III)

With the publication of The Social Frameworks of Knowledge? the English speaking world has at last been given a serious opportunity to approach the complex sociological thought of Georges Gurvitch. However, as the author himself admits in the Preface, this book appears ‘abstract and schematic particularly to the uninitiated’.1 The aim of this paper will be to try to relate this translated work to the main body of Gurvitch's writing and particularly to his stance in the sociology of knowledge. First I will examine the intellectual origins of his sociology of knowledge and his attitude to his predecessors in the field. Secondly I will compare his approach to the sociology of knowledge to that of P. L. Berger and T. Luckmann.     

A report on the development of sociology in China since its political division

This article is a brief report on the fate of Chinese sociology after the Communist takeover in 1949. In mainland China there are no longer any departments of sociology in the universities; the discipline has been integrated into other departments where it is taught as an interdisciplinary subject. In contrast, in Taiwan sociology has developed primarily along the lines of American sociology, and research and new currents of thought are still progressing.     

Robert Owen in the History of the Social Sciences: Three Presentist Views

This paper argues that the present‐day disagreements over the right course for sociology and its public role are reflected and paralleled in contemporary historiography of Robert Owen, British social reformer and a self‐described social scientist. Historical accounts, written from the perspectives of public sociology, “pure science” sociology, and anti‐Marxism, interpret Owen's historical role in mutually antithetical and self‐serving ways. Contrasting the three presentist accounts, I engage in an analysis of “techniques of presentism”—history‐structuring concepts, such as “disciplinary founder” and “disciplinary prehistory,” that allow presentist authors to get their effects. Along the way, I elaborate Peter Baehr's classification of sociology's founders.     

Religion and Science: The Embodiment of the Conversation: A Postmodern Sociological Perspective

In this paper I present a model of analysis of religion and science as forms of social construction of knowledge from the perspective of postmodern sociology. Numerous works have been recently published on the possible relations between religion and science. Most authors address this relationship from the perspectives of theology, philosophy, or selected disciplines of natural sciences (Ian Barbour, John Haught, John Polkinghorne). My goal is to add to that discussion a voice from the perspective of social sciences, specifically postmodern sociology. The model I propose brings the religion-science conversation down to earth, that is, to the level of people who "live" religion and science on a daily basis. The theoretical frame-work for my analysis of religion and science and of their relationship is constructed on the basis of selected works of leading postmodern sociologists Zygmunt Bauman, Anthony Giddens, and Piotr Sztompka. I begin with a brief summary of the basic ontological and methodological presuppositions of the postmodern approach to reality. This summary is followed by a clarification of meanings of certain concepts that are crucial for the understanding of my model. Then, I present the model of analysis of religion and science and, finally, make some suggestions for sociology of religion and sociology of science that might open new opportunities and challenges for future research of the interface between religion and science in the postmodern culture.     

When ecology and sociology meet: the contributions of Edward A. Ross

Edward A. Ross, a key figure in the early history of American sociology, developed a conceptualization of natural and social changes of the material environment that is virtually forgotten today. In this paper, these topics are discussed and located vis-à-vis Ross's intellectual contemporaries and their general take on the nature/society relationship. It is argued that ecological and sociological ideas in the early twentieth century influenced one another and, in the case of Ross, produced a perspective of social change that tried to include the dynamics of nature.